To facilitate system design, the DRV841x2 needs only a 12V supply in addition to H-Bridge power supply (PVDD). An internal voltage regulator provides suitable voltage levels for the digital and low-voltage analog circuitry. Additionally, the high-side gate drive requires a floating voltage supply, which is accommodated by built-in bootstrap circuitry requiring external bootstrap capacitor.

To provide symmetrical electrical characteristics, the PWM signal path, including gate drive and output stage, is designed as identical, independent half-bridges. For this reason, each half-bridge has a separate gate drive supply (GVDD_X), a bootstrap pin (BST_X), and a power-stage supply pin (PVDD_X). Furthermore, an additional pin (VDD) is provided as supply for all common circuits. Special attention should be paid to place all decoupling capacitors as close to their associated pins as possible. In general, inductance between the power supply pins and decoupling capacitors must be avoided. Furthermore, decoupling capacitors need a short ground path back to the device.

For a properly functioning bootstrap circuit, a small ceramic capacitor (an X5R or better) must be connected from each bootstrap pin (BST_X) to the power-stage output pin (OUT_X). When the power-stage output is low, the bootstrap capacitor is charged through an internal diode connected between the gate-drive power-supply pin (GVDD_X) and the bootstrap pin. When the power-stage output is high, the bootstrap capacitor potential is shifted above the output potential and thus provides a suitable voltage supply for the high-side gate driver. In an application with PWM switching frequencies in the range from 10kHz to 500kHz, the use of 100-nF ceramic capacitors (X5R or better), size 0603 or 0805, is recommended for the bootstrap supply. These 100nF capacitors ensure sufficient energy storage, even during minimal PWM duty cycles, to keep the high-side power stage FET fully turned on during the remaining part of the PWM cycle. In an application running at a switching frequency lower than 10 kHz, the bootstrap capacitor might need to be increased in value.

Special attention should be paid to the power-stage power supply; this includes component selection, PCB placement, and routing. As indicated, each half-bridge has independent power-stage supply pin (PVDD_X). For optimal electrical performance, EMI compliance, and system reliability, it is important that each PVDD_X pin is decoupled with a ceramic capacitor (X5R or better) placed as close as possible to each supply pin. It is recommended to follow the PCB layout of the DRV841x2 EVM board.

The 12V supply should be from a low-noise, low-output-impedance voltage regulator. Likewise, the 50V power-stage supply is assumed to have low output impedance and low noise. The power-supply sequence is not critical as facilitated by the internal power-on-reset circuit. Moreover, the DRV841x2 is fully protected against erroneous power-stage turn-on due to parasitic gate charging. Thus, voltage-supply ramp rates (dv/dt) are non-critical within the specified voltage range (see Section 5.3 of this data sheet).